Brewers’ Segura hit in face by Braun’s bat during warmup swing

Jean Segura (pictured from earlier game) needed stitches to close a gash under his right eye after getting hit by Ryan Braun's bat.

Benny Sieu/Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

MILWAUKEE — The Brewers’ Jean Segura left Saturday’s game after teammate Ryan Braun inadvertently struck the Milwaukee shortstop with a bat in the dugout prior to the bottom of the first inning.

After the game, a 5-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Segura did not suffer a concussion or a fracture but received stitches for a gash under his right eye. Doctors told Roenicke that Segura shouldn’t have to go on the disabled list.

"I don’t think so from what the doctors are saying," Roenicke said. "Two or three days, the swelling should go down quite a bit and we’ll get him back after that."

Television replays showed Braun standing on the top step, stretching and swinging a bat over his head when he hit Segura, who was walking to the on-deck circle. Segura was then helped to the clubhouse by team personnel with his head being held.

"I saw the whole thing," Brewers starter Marco Estrada said. "Obviously, you never want to see a teammate get hurt, especially like that. It was pretty tough. Once I found out he was doing OK, I had to focus back on the game because we still had to play."

Swinging at the top step of the dugout prior to heading out on deck is something Braun does prior to each one of his at-bats. Roenicke figured Segura was in a rush to get to the on-deck circle and may have been thrown out of his routine after hitting eighth in the lineup the past few days.

"Whenever you’re involved in a situation like that, I think it puts life in perspective and you realize how insignificant baseball is. Thank God, from everything we’ve heard, he’s OK. It could have been a lot worse or a lot worse places that he could have been hit. …

"I’m kind of always in the same spot, always doing the same thing and the inning was about to start. Typically he’s in the on-deck circle."

Segura started the game at shortstop and played defensively in the top of the first inning. He was scheduled to hit second, ahead of Braun.

Jeff Bianchi pinch hit for Segura and singled in his first two plate appearances, driving in a pair of runs with a two-out base hit to right in the bottom of the second to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Bianchi finished 2 for 4 with the two RBI.

Bianchi didn’t see Segura go down and was alerted by his teammates to get ready to hit. Bench players are used to jumping into the game in a hurry, but Bianchi didn’t have much time to think Saturday.

"I didn’t know what happened," Bianchi said. "I just saw him (Segura) on the ground. Guys were saying, ‘Jeff, Jeff, get ready!’ So, I walked by him and he was on the ground not moving. That’s hard to see a guy go down like that, especially when you don’t know what happened.

"I kind of had to collect myself and get back on the on-deck circle knowing I was up next."

With Segura likely out for the next few days, Bianchi is expected to take over at shortstop. Braun later left Saturday’s game with a strained right intercostal muscle and is considered day to day.

If both Segura and Braun sit out Sunday’s series finale with the Cubs, the Brewers will play with just two bench players as backup catcher Martin Maldonado is still suspended from his involvement in the April 20 brawl with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"I feel ready," said Bianchi, who is hitting .238 (5 for 21) with thre RBI in eight games). "I’ve been getting my work out there at short, feeling like I’m doing what I can to stay ready. I don’t know how many days he’s (Segura is) going to miss, if he’s going to miss any, but I’ll be ready."